BARREL NASA - Balloon Campaign 2015

Balloon Array for Radiation-belt Relativistic Electron Losses

BARREL is a balloon-based Mission of Opportunity to augment the measurements of NASA's Van Allen Probes spacecraft.
The primary scientific objective is to understand the processes responsible for scattering relativistic electrons into Earth's atmosphere.

BARREL consists of two Antarctic balloon campaigns operated in the southern hemispheres 2013 and 2014.In August this year(2015) it is time for a third northern hemisphere campaign from Esrange.During each campaign, 5-8 long-duration balloons would be aloft simultaneously over a one-month periodto provide measurements of the spatial extent of the relativistic electron precipitation and to allow an estimate of the total electron loss from the radiation belts.Observations are planned for when the balloon-array will be conjugate with the RBSP spacecraft, such that direct comparison is possible between one another.

Each balloon carry a NaI scintillator to measure the bremsstrahlung X-rays produced by precipitating relativistic electrons as they collide with neutrals in Earth's atmosphere, and a DC magnetometer.